No Tears for Rehnquist:
The Legacy of a Chief Justiceby Jack Random
www.dissidentvoice.org
September 5, 2005

“Don’t waste your
time mourning -- organize!”

-- Joe Hill, the
day before his execution.

Forgive
me if I have no tears to give for the passing of Supreme Court Chief
Justice William Rehnquist. As thousands of my brethren lie dead in New
Orleans and beneath the rubble of countless communities along the Gulf,
forgive me but I cannot bow my head in mourning for this one more.

William Rehnquist
was the legacy of Richard Nixon, a reminder that presidents often far
outlive the terms of their presidencies. He was at the vanguard of the
modern conservative movement, a movement dedicated to reducing the power
and responsibilities of the federal government. In over three decades of
jurisprudence, Rehnquist opposed state’s rights against federal
responsibility only once: Bush V. Gore, 2000. That singular fact
(alongside the golden epaulets adorning his gown) is all you need to know
about the judicial philosophy of William Rehnquist.

State’s rights were
employed to fight back desegregation in the south. State’s rights were
used to fight back civil rights and the voting rights of African
Americans. State’s rights were employed in the battle against organized
labor and women’s equality. And state’s rights were denied in order to
make George W. Bush president.

Now, given the
retirement of Sandra Day O’Connor, the legacy of one of the most ill
equipped leaders ever to inhabit the White House will be felt for
generations to come.

President Bush the
elder was fond of speaking of “a thousand points of light” (a concept his
son converted to “faith based” charities) but a thousand points of light
are not capable of fortifying levees, restoring wetlands, cooling an
overheated planet, or amassing the kind of response required in a major
disaster.

All issues
surrounding the Gulf Coast catastrophe, its prevention and relief, are the
essential responsibilities of the federal government. I am not impressed
with the unity tour of former presidents Clinton and Bush to raise private
funds for the most basic of government functions.

This is why we pay
taxes and, yes, taxes should be raised. As the financers of our
government, the responsibility belongs to all of us and all of us should
pay our fair share -- beginning with the corporations that profit from war
and national tragedies.

We need not wonder
what happened to all those billions of dollars we paid for Homeland
Security. They went to the wars and the occupations.

They went to stealth
operations, sponsoring coups in Haiti and Venezuela. They went to the
development of a new class of tactical nuclear weapons. They were shuffled
around to pick up pork projects in exchange for midnight votes for another
round of payoffs to the pharmaceutical industry, the banking and credit
industry, and of course the oil industry.

We are facing the
national disgrace of an abandoned city, a predominantly poor black city,
and an army of lost, desperate souls, yet the White House is already
shifting gears, biding its time, waiting for the cameras to turn away from
the suffering so that the government can proceed with its program of
austerity for the masses and tax relief for the elite.

At its very core,
the modern conservative philosophy holds the poor responsible for their
own poverty.

At the core, the new
conservatives do not believe that the federal government is responsible
for rebuilding New Orleans or restoring the afflicted to stable and decent
lives.

They will not say so
in public but in the private smoke-filled rooms where William Rehnquist
held court, where his brethren found him charming and illuminating, it is
openly acknowledged and embraced.

So forgive me if I
do not bow my head for the passing of the Chief Justice. My heart is
already consumed in mourning. Forgive me if I do not honor the tradition
of paying homage to the dead. He was only one man, one life against a
backdrop of thousands.

As labor leader Joe
Hill said: Don’t waste your time. Organize!

Jack Random is
the author of Ghost Dance Insurrection (Dry Bones Press) the Jazzman
Chronicles, Volumes I and II (City
Lights Books). The Chronicles have been published by CounterPunch,
the Albion Monitor, Buzzle, Dissident Voice and others.
Visit his website:
Random Jack.